Creating a clinical data repository for research is a challenging yet extremely useful task. By preemptively standardizing, normalizing, and transforming EHR data into a clinical data repository, thousands of hours can be saved when compared to working with raw EHR data. Via utilization of the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) ontology, coding-agnostic queries can be written to extract more meaningful data much quicker and reliably than ever before. Because Cleveland Clinic uses this framework, live population exploration can occur right…

Susan A. Flocke, PhD, Associate Professor of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, and Oncology, Associate Director of the Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhoods, Case Western Reserve University

The burden of smoking tobacco on morbidity and mortality is substantial. While rates of smoking have generally declined in the US, rates have not declined for the lowest economic classes. Guidelines urge primary care practices to routinely provide tobacco cessation care (i.e., assess tobacco use, provide brief cessation advice, and refer to cessation support). The purpose of this study is to assess the uptake and impact of a systems-based strategy to address provision of tobacco cessation care among primary care…